Meet Dave

A multi-instrument phenomenon, Dave Bennett is a clarinet virtuoso who plays electric guitar, piano, drums and vocalizes. He is the only artist anywhere saluting The Roots of Pop:covering music from the Swing Era to early Rockabilly and Country, to Elvis Presley, the Beatles and more.

Entirely self-taught, Dave began at age 10 on clarinet listening to and quickly playing along with Benny Goodman records. At 12 he was invited by legendary jazz trumpeter Doc Cheatham to the bandstand of New York’s famous Sweet Basil jazz club. By 14 he was out frequently touring around the USA with Michigan’s New Reformation Dixieland Band. Later self-taught instruments were the electric guitar and “boogie-woogie” style piano.

Dave is a blazing clarinet sensation playing the “swing style” of Benny Goodman. Leading hisTribute to Benny Goodman, Dave has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops (2013) and has played the program with 50 other US and Canadian orchestras including Nashville, Detroit, Rochester, Omaha, Toronto, Vancouver, Orlando, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Houston, Portland, OR and Portland, ME. Seventy-five performing arts centers across the USA have featured Dave’s performances.

An annual fixture at a dozen American music festivals, Dave’s “Rockin the ‘50s” show always brings down the house. Dave pays tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis (piano and vocals), and Johnny Cashand Elvis Presley (electric guitar and vocals). Dave’s original compositions are influenced by the style of Roy Orbison, the “Soul of Rock and Roll”. Some of his annual “roots music” presenters include The Sacramento Music Festival, The Southern Oregon Music Festival, The Central Illinois Jazz Festival, The Clambake Jazz Festival, and The Redwood Coast Music Festival. Dave performs at The Grand Hotel Jazz Weekend every Labor Day on Mackinac Island. Dave’s “Swing to Rock” Roots Music show premiers as a symphony pops program April 2016 with The Kingston Symphony Orchestra. (ON)

Dave has been featured on NPR Radio’s “Jazz at Riverwalk.” He made his European debut in 2008 at the Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in a combo with jazz legends (and Benny Goodman band alumni) guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and vibraphonist, the late Peter Appleyard.

Dave is a Mack Avenue Records artist. His 2013 CD “Don’t Be That Way” met with critical acclaim. His second CD , slated for 2016 release is currently in production featuring original compositions influenced by Dave’s appreciation of jazz, blues, swing, gospel, and pop.